The underlying themes that have pushed us in creating The Nordic Frugal Innovation Society and our activities including InnoFrugal annual conference
- Need for quality, accessible, affordable solutions in price-sensitive emerging markets.
- Slow/jobless growth, deleveraging, ageing population, stagnant wages, long-term unemployed leading to rising inequalities in developed countries.
We need to address these above issues.
In addition, we also have environmental sustainability to take into account if we are to mitigate global warming and other environmental risks.
Instead of doing nothing, there are increasing number of individuals and organisations out there who by their ingenuity are creating solutions as first time entrepreneurs via social enterprises, traditional SMEs or as part of diversified portfolio for big businesses. We applaud these efforts and want to accelerate the change towards a more inclusive society. They are an inspiration for us as organisers of InnoFrugal.
We also need to stress that frugal innovation is not a code word for cheap or outsourcing. It is about learning how to innovate under resource constraints and turn adversity into growth opportunities by delivering solutions that can be termed “affordable excellence”. Of course, this is not easy and that is where the challenge that can bring out the human ingenuity.
UK, Finland and Europe must embrace Frugal Innovation. So, is your business ready to take the next step to innovate and create sustainable economic growth that leads to reduced inequalities and realise UN sustainable development goals?